Really nice, maybe I will buy Dengeki Stryker and their last oelvn in the next few days :) I hope lots of people give a chance to Kara no Shoujo, too! That game really deserves much more success.

Locklear93

DearDrops for me. Too bad Harukoi Otome still isn’t out–I’ve been waiting on that one for AGES.

Hollowkoopa

Kira Kira is a fantastic visual novel and more people should try it out.

Locklear93

It really is, though the end I got really left me flat, to such an extent I never did any of the other routes, or the addition, even though I got the bundle.

Nee Nee

Otoboku…
I will get this.

Tales_of_Master

MangaGamer should try and publish Type-Moon’s games here in the west >:c Mahou Tsukai no Yoru would be a good place to start, with the upcoming Tsukihime Remake to follow if Mahou Tsukai no Yoru preformed well…..Make it happen MangaGamer ;_;

Ladius

I think those games’ licensing fee would be impossible to cover for Mangagamer, though.

That’s exactly the problem with the western visual novel market: nukiges have cheap licenses and a little but faitfhful group of supporters that will buy them making them proiftable, while all-ages visual novels and even quality eroges can have extremely pricey licenses and, thanks to piracy, there’s no guarantee they will sell enough copies to recover those costs (as I wrote in another thread, Kara no Shoujo’s lifetime sales were beaten by Boob Wars in a matter of days since its release).

Also, big games often have multiple licensing partners: Mangagamer was unable to release a voiced edition of Kara no Shoujo (and Koihime Musou, even if they fixed that later) because the dubs needed to be licensed from a recording studio that apparently asked them far more than Innocent Grey did for the game itself.

Locklear93

So far, even nukige haven’t really worked for MangaGamer. Last time I saw an interview with Bamboo (the CEO of OVERDRIVE, which owns MangaGamer) he said MangaGamer is still in the red. I really think he’s viewing losses as an acceptable price for trying to build a new market.

Ladius

That’s true, but still nukiges tend to sell far better than all ages or story-driven eroges, and considering most of the nukiges they picked up are fairly cheap it’s easy to see why their current business model focuses so much on them.

That said, I think Bamboo’s efforts are commendable and are already giving some results, at least in terms of awareness for this genre. Of course it will take more than this to make it relevant, but between the MangagamerJAST efforts on PC, the fantastic work of Aksys on handhelds and the efforts of fantranslators the vn scene in the west has never been so big.

Locklear93

Agreed. If nothing else, turning nukige keeps them relevant. As I bemoaned elsewhere, Harukoi Otome is taking FOR EV ER to release, and IIRC, they’d announced it before Koihime Musou got its actual release. Nukige take MUCH less time, due to substantially reduced volume of text, making them both easier to bring to market, and a lower risk if they perform horribly.

I’m glad to see JAST and Mangagamer starting to team up, even if so far the partnership exists only to bring MangaGamer titles to market as physical releases. I can understand wanting to retain independence, outperform competitors, and so on, but with a market this small, cooperation is still the order of the day.

I’ll probably never see the VNs I most want in an official localization (Fate series), but I can hardly complain when companies are putting so much effort into things now.

I’m surprised that Mangagamer managed to get OtoBoku though… That doesn’t sound cheap to get it licensed so Mangagamer could be taking a gamble since Bamboo said MG is still in the red…

It paid off according to the rankings(Does weekly rankings even counts lifetime sales?)… Word of mouth wise, I have seen a few mentions around so coverage isn’t the reason it sold well…

Koihime Musou managed to past 2000 copies to get VAs when I was losing hope for it to happen… Here’s hoping the sequel might come as well..

Juan Andrés Valencia

Getting Higurashi but… how is Kara No Shoujo? I’ve heard it’s pretty extreme but that the story is great so I might consider getting it (I’m a huge horror fan).

( `Д´)ﾉ)`ν゜)

It’s amazing but it’s difficult to say anything without spoiling it. Make sure you can stomach a little bit before playing it.
Oh and you might want to get the voice patch. I’m sure you can find it if you google a bit.

neocatzon

I can’t say Higurashi and Kara No Shoujo exactly as horror novels. But, imo Higurashi has best narrative in VN. Kara No Shoujo has a good story and replay value.

Ladius

Kara no Shoujo is a fantastic game, provided you can handle some gore and sex scenes. It’s a dark detective story set in post-IIWW Japan with lots of flavor and interesting twists, not to mention a great art direction and a solid soundtrack. For 19.99 EU it’s a steal, especially considering the amount of replayability it can grant you if you want to see everything it has to offer.

Locklear93

This–additionally, but any fears of snuff out of your mind if you had any. A lot of people on here when Siliconera first covered Kara no Shoujo made the immediate assumption that sex scenes + gory murder scenes = snuff. It’s not so. That said, the gore was so extreme in the bad end I got I was never able to go back. *twitch* AUGH, THE MEMORIES.

Juan Andrés Valencia

I can tolerate tons of gore (After all, I am a horror fan and I’ve seen hundreds of exploitation films so I think I should be able to handle it XD ) and for the nudity… really? If it’s that graphic then I’ll play it by myself at night with headphones.

Ladius

I didn’t mean to startle you, it’s a matter of how used you are to that kind of contents :)

There are few gore scenes in the game, but they’re really graphic and the description can be grating if you can’t stand them. Also, sex scenes are the normal eroge fare, and they are also an extremely minor part of the whole game, so unless they are a big issue for you they shouldn’t ruin the rest of this (awesome) game.

Juan Andrés Valencia

I wasn’t startled ;) , it’s just that some people actually think sex is worse than violence. I don’t understand them but whatever.

Anyways, based on what I’ve heard I NEED TO PLAY THIS :D

Ladius

Yeah, I’m surprised when I see that kind of reactions, too :P

Then again, I understand some people can find sex as startling as violence in the context of videogames, albeit for different reasons (and, let’s face it, many visual novels, especially in the nukige context, don’t even try to handle it in a tasteful way).

I just took a look at their adult games section and the first thing that I see is:

EROGE! Sex and Games Make Sexy Games!

You might want to read the description on that as well since that seems relevant to you.

ragingmerifes

I’m having some difficulties browsing that site using only the keyboard.

Locklear93

Has anyone tried ef? I totally blew it off due to looking too much like a generic school romance.

herolove

The story pretty much a generic school romance but its well told in my opinion with focus on many different characters instead of the normal one boy and different girls he gets together with.

But it was the technical parts that made if stand out, lake simple animations like lip-sync and my favourite how the backlog lets you go back fully with all the visuals and music chancing and is not just a window with text.

M’iau M’iaut

It is also however worth noting ef is their largest release to retain any mosaics/censoring; a request that came from Minori.

Locklear93

Yeah, I’m well aware of that and actually read Minori’s message to fans. I DO care about writing, even to some extent for flat out nukige, but in the end, I’ve danced around ef in part due to the mosiacs. It’s not that I don’t understand Minori’s position; it’s just that I think it’s ridiculous, and if there’s something else equally interesting, I’m going to opt for the developer I don’t feel is being silly.

Then again, one of the uncensor jobs in Magical Teacher was so bad I laughed until I cried, so maybe the mosaic is the lesser evil…

M’iau M’iaut

It has honestly led me to pass to this point even though I have both animes. It is so clearly a fight against reverse imports that its a smack in the face to the English audience. Compare that to what Nitro+ did with Demonbane, where even if you stop to look, you have got to seek out the tiny watermark script on purpose to even notice.

Locklear93

I actually noticed the watermark in at least one image of Demonbane without even trying, but I agree. I’d take an out of the way watermark over mosiacs any day. Right now, BaseSon and OVERDRIVE are treating me best as a consumer, I feel. Minori still isn’t sure whether or not they want to try in this market. I get that, honestly, but refusal to commit to the experiment for even one game is only going to hurt results, as it did for you and me.

herolove

I got Otoboku recently so I should play that, but I guess Kara No Shoujo could make a grate Christmas present fore myself. I actually considered playing it without paying at one point, shame on me.

Himiko

Time to order some new eroge.

Göran Isacson

Also I accessed the eroge section, and I wonder what it says about me that after having a good laugh at the fact something like Small Boobs versus Big Boobs exist, I actually got interested in some of the games… for the plots. Has anyone played “Deardrops” or “Dengeki Stryker”, and can they tell me if they’re as interesting story-wise as they look?

LynxAmali

Dengeki’s actually pretty fun, if not completely over the top, all things considered. Then again, I did play it primary for the god-tier soundtrack.

Also, I checked every game they sell and they carry titles with family friendly names like “Suck my **** or die!” and “Tasty Shafts” (If it involves Shaft then it’s probably awesome, not sure about the tasty part though…).

Göran Isacson

Yeah, Shaft may have been an instrumental film in the blaxploitation genre and groundbreaking for it’s time, but tasty? Man if you like eating film that’s your thing, is all I’m saying…

Juan Andrés Valencia

You are right, most 42nd. street theatres treated every film more poorly than how Michael Vick treated dogs. It probably tastes like cigarette ashes and shame.

Locklear93

As has been mentioned elsewhere in here, MangaGamer DOES deal in nukige (eroge focused entirely on the sex), and some of those are… well, extreme, to put it nicely. I haven’t seen very many recent releases along those lines; I think those are kind of a remnant of the earliest days, when they had to take what they could get in the way of licenses.

M’iau M’iaut

Yes they certainly have moved to the happy milf side of the nukige world rather than the numerous military-themed ‘lamentation of the women’ titles they once focused on.

That said, Suika A.S. was one of their first releases. Sadly it suffers from a translation that can be almost unbearable for a native speaker.

Locklear93

I think they’re aware their earlier translations sucked. I played Edelweiss (still my favorite OVERDRIVE eroge) before their retranslation, and while it was functional… that’s all it was. Maybe one day Suika will get a similar treatment.

M’iau M’iaut

Its just one could argue Suika is their best pure dramatic eroge, and to see it suffer from a translation from what I am guessing is a south-east asian port is painful.

Locklear93

Really? I’d be surprised, having read Kira Kira. Granted, I have no legitimate experience with Suika A.S., but the description always led me to move on, without even a trace of interest.

Juan Andrés Valencia

I still find the titles hilarious. BTW Göran I’ve heard Deardrops is great but there’s a physical collector’s edition of the game at J-List that includes the OST and guitar picks.

Göran Isacson

Oooh that is also mighty tempting… when I actually have money to spend on it that is.

Göran Isacson

I am very much a fan of over the top, so if this game aims and succeeds at that I could be a potential fan.

But Masaki Endoh? In MY eroge? Be still my beating heart, THAT’S a draw if I ever heard one.

Raze

Dengeki Srtyker is disappointing for me…The Story is just bleh…
And the MC…Haha…i even cheer for the villain in this game..
The 3rd route you’ll continue the story as the villain…Not as the boss….

And I like that one than the 1st/2nd route
The soundtrack is good though…The art too..

DearDrops?
Do you like KiraKira?
Then I think you’ll like this..Its almost the same except the sad moment that happened in KiraKira isn’t really in DearDrops…

Göran Isacson

I haven’t in fact played KiraKira! Totally new to the whole franchise, pretty much. Would DearDrops be good even if I haven’t played the predecessor?

Locklear93

It’s not a predecessor, strictly speaking. They deal in similar themes, but they’re quite separate stories. No reason you couldn’t enjoy DearDrops without playing Kira Kira.

Himiko

Oppai sensou (Small vs Big) is great. Lots of good content.

Göran Isacson

Oh, I do not doubt that it does what it does with gusto and aplomb, I just think that out of all themes to make a porno of… well, I guess I didn’t see that one coming!